A local activist has launched a petition drive to put the question up for a voter referendum.

The nine-member city council passed the ban unanimously Dec. 19.

According to a Seattle Times report, Craig Keller, who the newspaper describes as a Republican activist, is behind the petition effort.

A website set up for the effort, at www.saveourchoice.us, points out that Seattle residents rejected a similar restriction on plastic bags.

“You have disrespected the wishes of the great majority of Seattle residents,” the website states. It calls the council vote “but one in a history of injury and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny.”

According to the Times story, the petition needs 16,503 signatures of registered Seattle voters by Jan. 17 to qualify for the August primary election.